more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in. good morning from new york. i'm chris hayes. in the swing state of iowa, endorsed mitt romney for president after the paper agreed to an off the record interview to the president and blasted the president for getting off the record. printed it on the record and endorsed mitt romney. the last time they endorsed a republican for president was when they made the call to go with richard nixon. many are preparing for hurricane

sandy. eight states declared a state of emergency. a national hurricane center said it's expected to bring strong winds and a significant storm surge to the mid-atlantic states and southern new england. dylilylan drier has the latest. >> good morning. thanks. we are focusing on a category one her honor here. it is still moving to the northeast. it's going to take the turn to the northwest. right now, it's still almost 400 miles to the east of charleston, south carolina. it is still very far out to sea and moving to the northeast. it is an expansive storm. it's huge, stretching all the way through the eastern sea board, roughing up the surge. look at the heavy bands of rain moving into virginia beach, maryland, delaware and down into eastern north carolina. northeastern north carolina is going get stuck with several inches of rain. we still have this area of high pressure to the north and east.

it's going to shoot the storm system back to the northwest making land fall somewhere in new jersey. now, the track has been changing a little bit. at this point, the storm is huge and the wind field extends so far out from the center of the storm, no matter where it hits, whether new jersey, further north or south, we are still looking at bad conditions monday night into tuesday morning, especially. rainfall four to eight inches. it's going to create inland flooding. the storm surge of four to five feet creates coastal flooding. the winds 450 miles from the center of the storm. we could end up with gusts near 80 miles per hour. we have inland flooding because of the heavy rain, coastal flooding. we have the chance of terrible beach erosion at the jersey shore through beaches in maryland and ocean city. we are going to see the leaves on the trees make it like a sail. so, when the winds are gusting and the grounds are soft because

of the rain, several downed trees on the power lines and dealing with power outages through the weekend into next week. it's one of the biggest concerns. chris? >> thank you. that report from dillen drier. >> eise, friends of democracy aimed at electing candidates who champion campaign finance reform and my colleague. the wonderful heather mcgee and senior editor and staff writer at the new yorker magazine. they just endorsed barack obama and all the talk about the des moines register. people are overlooking the fact he bagged "the new york times" and the new yorker. hurricane sandy caused president

obama and mitt romney to cancel events in virginia. this is important because with only nine days left until election day, it comes down to math and geography, the votes and the map. the map shrunk to seven swing states, virginia, iowa, new hampshire, wisconsin and ohio are all in play this cycle. president obama can count on 243 electoral votes that will go blue and romney can count on 106. with each having to get to 270 to win. the simple take away is the president's path to victory is significantly easier. polls show barack obama consistently ahead in iowa and wisconsin. if he holds on there, he won both last time, he just needs to win florida, ohio or virginia. he's behind in florida and a dead heat in virginia. he seems to be ahead in ohio.

it's why the candidates are spending so much time in that state. obama has a 73.6% chance of winning. it's hard to imagine a romney victory without winning ohio. okay. everybody is in ohio. it's such a bizarre undertaking to go through the map and everyone now has these nice interactive things. is that your sense of the race? my sense of the race is that it's very hard to see it not coming down to ohio if we are sitting down on election night figuring out what the call is going to be made, it looks like ohio is going to determine it. you have been around the country. i'm just curious, what sort of the mood has been in different swing districts that you have been in? you are active in all parts of the country. >> we have been active in a number of battleground states. i have most recently been to ohio and new hampshire. the mood is different depending

on the day and where you go. one of the things i did not find to be true is mitt the momentum. i think what we saw in the aftermath of the first debate was romney folks feeling like it was all of a sudden okay to be proud to be out as romney voter. >> true. >> i did not see that before that. i think there are a number of folks who are feeling visceral emotions out there. i have been certainly evangelizing to my colleagues in d.c. about the need to get out into the swing states in the last few days of the election. i think some of this comes down to raw gut. i don't think the momentum is happening. i think ohio is going to be key. we are seeing romney go to maine to pick up the one electoral vote we can get from there. they are racing all over covering their bases. it's going to be super interesting. maine and nebraska, barack obama

won the congressional district in nebraska last time around omaha. there are ways to get to 269, 269, tie. of course the electoral college has an even number of votes. why have that be possible, but it is possible. how do you think the romney campaign sees this? >> i think you have to think about wisconsin. wisconsin and ohio -- >> this is the big question. >> if romney wins florida, north carolina, virginia and new hampshire and colorado, which are the states where he's been leading to tie in the relatively recent polls. he has to win either ohio or wisconsin. if he wins wisconsin and loses ohio, he could get to 270 that way. they are important. >> if he wins wisconsin -- again it was won by john kerry in 2004, comfortably by barack obama in 2008. it would be a swing back for

wisconsin. paul ryan is on the ticket. there's some thinking there and the polling is relatively close. he would also -- if he didn't win ohio, the run of all the swing states, colorado, virginia, north carolina, florida, et cetera. >> wisconsin is interesting. we neglected wisconsin, it's very important. wisconsin is a state where we had this recall election in the past. the ground game for the republicans is very strong. a lot of things about obama has been the ground game they have developed since 2008. it's been so efficient. so many field offices. wisconsin is the state where they had the recent recall where republicans invested in the get out the vote. it could be where you get the surprise. >> it's strong for progressives and organized labor because not just the governor's recall election, but the state house recall election, which actually went the other way. i have said from the beginning, which is a nice thing to be able to say, no matter what happens

in the news and the polls, here is going to be my analysis of it for the rest of the election. i's going to come down to election administration. it's scary. i think, really, it's been wonderful to see the galvanizing of, you know, right and left around how important the rules are for who gets to vote, what the deadline is for registering, whose ballot gets counted and how and when. it's what comes down to it when we are talking ability a very small sector of the eligible people in this country who actually are able to overcome the red tape that we surround the voting process with. it's what it comes down to. we are going to come out no matter what happens with the election. okay, let's fix this. >> this is the key. close elections focus the mind. they focus us on the administration of elections. we had a legislation passed

after the disaster of 2000 which was tossed off to sea. and was barely implemented and the person appointed left in a huff and we have sound from him. the other thing to think about here when we talk about the map, you know, sandy is going to hit parts of the country that have high democratic turnout. the possibility of a split between popular vote and electoral vote is looking more and more plausible to me. why we should get rid of the electoral college so we are not talking act the map after this. medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with a low national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details.

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♪ sxz all right. my story of the week. what if ohio were the bronx.

ohio likely voters taken from tuesday through thursday show president obama with a slight lead over romney. the reason pollsters are obsessively polling ohio and political reporters flooded the state and barack obama and romney have been living there is because it's most likely the state to win the election. if romney wins florida, virginia and colorado, it's still difficult for him to get to the needed 270 electoral votes without winning ohio. there's one lone point of comfort as the polls tightened to a tie or a slight lead for romney. in ohio, polls reliablely show romney two to five points behind the president. political observers spent a fair amount of time why barack obama is outperforming his national numbers in ohio, among white men. the ohio economy is outperforming the national

economy. ohio has a lower unemployment rate than the nation at large, it's seen a faster rate of improvement. a big reason for that is, of course, the auto rescue initiated under the bush administration and executed under the barack obama team. an estimated 160,000 of them wouldn't have jobs if the government wouldn't have stepped in with loans. the reason that it comprised one-half of joe biden's two-line campaign slogan for election and why romney tried to race away from the position at the time he held at the time of the crisis, to let the auto industry go through a free fall bankruptcy. now, i supported the auto rescue at the time. i think it's been well handled by the obama administration.

there's something more bizarre that after the first term, the president ended the war in iraq, passed landmark reform and a health care bill that is the most significant piece in year, a bill that gives each american access to health insurance for the first time. after all that, the president's re-election would come to rest at the execution of a package initiated by george w. bush in the last days of his time in office. imagine getting in a time machine and going back to the mall in 2009 and telling people in a crowd of more than 1 million, the man about to get sworn in would see his re-election hinged on the pack onlg of loans the bush administration authorized. there's no way they would believe you. the reason for this strange state of affairs is the electoral college, a small category of swing states and a

vast wasteland of states where they do not. we have become so accustoms to it, we don't think it's strange. of course it played out well in the swing state of ohio. it should. 160,000 jobs in ohio are no more important than 160,000 jobs in alabama or california. they are more important under our current political system. in fact, i like to imagine what politics would look like if there was no electoral college and the votes in my people of the bronx. the bronx is 1.4 million residents, more than 11 entire states. no presidential candidate there cares about what people think. it's safely blue. if they did, they might do campaign event there is and set up field offices and find a landscape different than the one we have talked about nationally. more than 30% of the burrows live in poverty.

a 2011 poll from the new york daily news found one-half of the burrows residents were worried about winding up on the street. can you imagine a national political campaign that talked about homelessness? the home ownership rate in the bronx was just under 20%, which means the vast majority of residents live in rental housing and concerned with safe affordable housing and ignored in the national political conversation. think about what a radical sight it would be to see the residents of the bronx, red and brown, english speakers at a campaign rally with the president of the united states with the elevated subway line running by and the rental buildings dotting the background. this is as american as this image of miners in a coal country. these workers at an auto plant. it's an image you will never see as long as it's rational to

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♪ all right. joining me, i have a member of mitt romney's health care adviser group. i have the author of "america's unwritten constitution." heather mcgee and henrik from the new yorker magazine. there are -- i want to show some polling about the electoral college. i want to put this flag in the ground before election day happens. i would like to remind everyone on the right what their commitments are. if you ask people, should we have a popular vote, you will

see that democrats have a strong preference for that. 71% of democrats express it, 53% of republicans. republicans, support for it has been gaining. 41% in 2000. generally, the way this breaks down, if you look at the states that passed natural popular vote, democrats and people on the left like the idea of the natural popular vote and people on the right like the idea of the electoral college. know that. know where everyone is coming from should we get a mitt romney electoral college defeat and popular vote victory. what are you going to say the day after that happens? >> i'm going to support the electoral college system. >> will you really? are you really going to? >> i'll say this on national television to you. i will support the electoral college even if that scenario occurs. >> why? >> as conservatives, if you want

to summarize it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. it is electoral college the most broken in our system? >> it's a long list. >> is it the most important thing? if we are concerned or oppose one man and one vote in constitutional government, the senate has to be abolished. it's a real injury. >> it's on my sights, next. >> the electoral college, only three times a discrepancy between the popular vote and electoral vote. with the senate, we deal with it every day. if we think this is a problem, that's where the energies need to be directed at. i think -- i think -- i think it's okay for small states to have a representation. >> if it's not broke, don't fix it, it's doing something about the way they campaign. >> i think the fact small states have overrepresentation is okay. i don't have a problem with it.

it was part of the debate. when it comes to generally in the constitutional debates, it was a big issue. the small states were concerned their power would be overtaken with the big states. itis why we have the system we have. we are all on this show and all live in cities. most of our political discussion is influenced by what happens in our cities, city's drive, what happens in our culture. it's okay to have some representation. >> large metro areas, heavy concentrations of people have an influence in so far as they dominate things like the med ia and things like this. >> i don't think they are driving policy or the political conversation. i would just make that little -- >> right. the question becomes, if we were to do away with it like about the bronx being the place where every presidential candidate comes to say, this is what i'll

do for you. there's lots of areas in cleveland and nobody is going there. it's in a swing state. maybe this is -- do you think we would see larger emphasis on those groups particularly, i think, working class folks and poor folks in cities? >> i think we have to see a couple different things. i don't think the natural, popular vote, which is a good idea. i don't think it's the magic wand. i think we need universal registration. this is the thing about after bush v. gore, i wasn't upset that gore's votes that were counted were more of the national popular vote. i was upset about the votes that weren't counted. i don't think because, again, there are 51 million people in this country who aren't registered to vote -- >> wow. >> i don't think the popular vote tally is the will of the people. as long as we have the

electorate unnecessarily. >> you are putting the system on trial. >> i am. >> the voter registration system introduces the element. give us a historical ground about why do we have the electorate college and the original rationals. >> not really for the reasons you were taught in third grade. it's an advantage for the small states. not really. we have had three small state presidents in history. bill clinton, franklin pierce. the big states always win for 32 of the 36 years as a slave holding virginian. it's also massachusetts, state two or three, depending on how you count. the next four years, a massachusetts guy. the biggest northern state and virginians, the biggest southern state. not big state/small state. we never actually have a breakdown in american history between big states and small

states. the lineup is more geographic. it's coast against center. in fact, a conservative should know this. we have it more for reasons having to do with slavery. if you have a national popular vote, the south would have lost every time. it doesn't let the slave population vote. the three fifths clause. pennsylvania in 1800 has more free people than virginia, way more voters than virginia, way fewer electoral votes. it connects to "today." if you want people to participate, the electoral college dampens it. ohio gets the same number of votes. if you have direct election, you create incentives for governments to make it easier for people to vote. go back 100 years ago. women would have gotten the vote way earlier in a direct election

system because any state that gave the women the vote in 1900 would have doubled it. >> fascinating. >> you create incentives. it's how much force you have. this is thomas jefferson talking about the electoral. >> i have ever considered it ultimately by the legislature voting as the most dangerous block in our constitution and some, unlucky chance will hit and give us a pope and antipope. i don't know what he means but he was not big on it. you devoted a lot of time and energy about this. i want to hear why, after this break. email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox.

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all right. rick, you have spent a lot of time thinking of this issue. you are a popular vote guy. it seems like an archaic issue. why are you so -- >> we have a presidential election occurring in nine

states at most. what about the rest of us? what is wrong with the idea of each vote counting the same? why is that such a terrible idea? if the electoral college is such a great idea, why do we not hear any of the defenders bringing the wisdom of this wonderful situation to state elections. a state like california for governors or texas and new york is several times bigger than the entire country was when the constitution was written. but, you don't hear anybody saying we should have a system where each county gets one vote and the votes of all the voters in that county are in this one collective. what about individualism? conservatives. why take all the voters and put them in this collective in the state and give everything to the one that wins that collective? >> conservatives will say because we are a federal system, right? this is the last that we keep

knocking off the structures that made federalism a real thing in our system. we ignore the tenth amendment, rough shot over everything. this is one last acknowledgement that we are a set of states knit together. only federalism is explain why we do governors differently. if it's cities, the cities of san francisco and san jose and los angeles. but, as for federalism, if you have a national popular vote system, you actually create incentives for states to race to the top rather than the bottom. we are going to make it easier for people to vote. one state same day registration. another state might make election day a paid holiday. we'll see different models competing state laboratories of experimentation. romney care as a precursor. obama care. states believe in states racing to the top. one of the aspects in this, i'm

complaining about california and alabama get ignored. the opposite are you are in a swing state, you are innovative. there's this hilarious thing in columbus ohio yesterday, live tweeting the ads. to wrap up in columbus ohio, 45 of 45 ads were political ads. at a certain point, the amount of media markets and voters is fixed and limited. the amount of money is unlimited. it's all poured into the same place. my question for you, rick, when you brainstorm about a popular vote election, what it would look like, what would it look like? >> one of the things that would be different is the power of money, the relative power of money would be diminished. there's essentially no limit -- there's a limit to how much run you can raise. >> you don't see any campaign

saying we raised enough money, let's stop. maybe more would be raised under a popular vote. it would have to be spread out through the whole country. right now, it's funneled into these eight or nine states. now, what there's no limit on is volunteerism. grass roots politics is what is disadvantaged by this system. you live in new york, there's no point in having neighbors over and a coffee clutch. oh, yeah, maybe you can go to ohio and do it. it kills politics. it kills grass roots politics. >> i make the opposite point. if you have a national popular vote for the presidency, you are going to see a lot more money. you are going to have to invest more in new york, california and texas and places like that. people will pay. >> it keeps getting more expensive. >> i think you are going to see more money in politics. a campaign driven by base issues rather than the swing voters.

if you want -- >> why would that be the case? >> if you have a popular vote election, a lot of results is turning out the base as opposed to persuading -- >> in base states. >> in base states. >> why should your vote count for less? >> it's a good point. >> is this one person one vote idea. here is a way of spending -- let's get rid of elections and get rid of having educated citizens who are educated every two and four years. wouldn't it be easier if we had no money in politics, no elections, no vote counting. >> wait a second. the point here is actually -- i know -- i'm saying if we are worried about the expensive campaigns, i think running the popular vote election is more expensive. >> we have to do more than reforms as well. it's why the people who are push thg are saying yes, we need

money out and people in. we need a full democracy. it's one part of it. i don't think it's sufficient. >> how is making every vote count going to cause more money to be raised? >> hold that thought. you can think about this. you can't think about the way it will impact the policy positions the candidates take. i think that might be interesting. we'll be back with more after this. that can only come from having someone else pay your mortgage for an entire year... this is what you'll experience if you win the quicken loans skip-a-year mortgage sweepstakes. up to five winners will get to skip a year of mortgage payments... courtesy of quicken loans. enter often at skipayear.com for more chances to experience...this... the skip-a-year mortgage sweepstakes. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze! try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic.

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introducing the new droid razr maxx hd by motorola. now more than ever droid does. i think that 2000 and potentially 2004 indicate we may see a breakdown in how well the electoral functions in this modern united states. for a couple reasons. it's not just that they are close elections. i don't think that in and of itself is enough to change it. what i'm concerned about is the fact that elections for the presidency are essentially now run in 11 or 12 states.

you know, states that are predominantly republican like alabama and states that are predominantly democratic like california basically don't get a presidential campaign. i think over time, it's eroding people's interest and stake in the election. i'm not sure that given the national nature of most of the issues being debated that we still need it. >> that's young state senator, barack obama making the critique that folks like myself have made. i want to talk about how, actually, the clever way that you thought of to create a popular vote without a constitutional amendment. imagine what this national popular election -- one thing you could say is, you don't have the south has been removed from

politics. new york and california are removed and the deep south, alabama and mississippi. you can make an argument, i have nothing but love for the south. you can make an argument, a republican candidate who needed juiced turned out would come through the south and have incentives to say things and take position that are right to the voter or where the party is now. we see the south is the most conservative part of the country, it is in terms of the house caucus. it has been for awhile. can you imagine a situation in an era of partisanship going to the vote-rich states being ignored and rich in partisans would increase this partisanship? >> i don't think so. i think it would -- you go after votes everywhere. everywhere there's a vote and you have to stop thinking in terms of states and geography. states would be an important category in so far as they are important to people.

i know my identity -- i'm a new yorker. there are a lot of things higher on my list about what's important. >> a bearded man, for instance. >> it's a fairly recent development. so, i don't think it would do that anymore than it does at the state level. you have to look at this that way. we have these laboratories where we -- >> we run these elections this way. >> in new york you don't see republican candidates only going to rural county that is are strongly republican. there's campaigning in new york city and buffalo. hillary clinton did most of her campaigning up state. >> it becomes a point of pride for candidates on their website, you know, 50 county listings, going to every county and promising to hit every part of the state. >> rick, correct me if i'm wrong. i think your deepest view and my deepest idea is very simple. it's one person, one vote. even if that had arguably

unfavorable -- we believe that for governors and u.s. senators. we just believe in equality of all american voters. that's the deep idea. >> yeah. >> chris, you made the point in your intro about how the policy debate would change. it's easy to imagine. look at the house of representatives. what do we see? we see two polar parties. there's not a lot of sen tryst. >> i think a presidential campaign that was driven by a popular vote is similarly polarized. >> in the house of representatives you have a huge number of one-sided districts where if you are a republican in a republican district, the only thing you have to fear is coming from the right. >> you are always going to have to get elected by everybody. here is one objection that makes sense to me. i want you to tell us how to get there in the time we have left.

the recount issue. this is persuasive. when we cabin things off in one state, if ohio is contested, litigation at least it will be in ohio. if you had a natural popular vote that was in a very small, small margin running a 50-state recount seems like that would be chaotic and catastrophic. >> when we step back, it would oblige us to invest more in voter -- >> that's a good point. >> in california, a big place, here is how we elect our governor. everyone votes and if it's close, a recount. >> finally -- >> we should do that everywhere and have national supervision of that process. the american vote act that you mentioned earlier was toothless. we, you know, bush versus gore should have been a wake up call and it wasn't. they win while losing the popular vote.

it's nonpartisan. >> we may see that soon. the popular vote, you don't need it. states can independently pass laws. they have the power to award electors. the winner of the natural popular vote, if and only if there are states with 270 electoral votes making the same pledge. you are not going to be a sucker. you have created a compact. eight states have done that in the district of columbia, if i'm not mistaken. we don't need a constitutional amendment? >> it wasn't just my idea. my brother, co-author -- >> the brothers. all right. >> for this idea. we can talk about -- so far, the states that have gone for it are democrat states. >> thanks for being here. appreciate it. >> all right. the second term agenda for barack obama. that's next. ngs! a mattress. a sausage link. mermaid. honey!? driftwood. come on, you gotta help us out here a little. [ male announcer ] febreze eliminates odors

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before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. this week, the president released his plan for a second

term. not surprisingly, the plan doesn't tell us anything new about his agenda if he's reelected, raise taxes on the wealthy. the republicans have complained he hasn't put forth a vision. if you missed his address, all three of the presidential debates or his stump speeches, the president took his campaign platform and boiled it down to a power point presentation for you. here is how he did it starting this week. >> here is my plan for the next four years. making education and training a national priority. building on our manufacturing. boosting american made energy. reducing the deficits by cutting where we can and asking the wealthy to pay a little more and ending the war in afghanistan so we can do nation building here at home. that's the right path. so, read my plan. compare it to governor romney's and decide which is better for you. >> the ad and the plan called a

new economic patriotism has a fact about a second term for president obama. almost immediately after the election, the president will be confronted with a political crisis, the fiscal cliff, the bush tax cuts combined with $1.2 trillion in cuts mandated by last year's debt ceiling deal. the plan doesn't tell us about how to navigate the political terrain. he was more forthcoming with the register in iowa. we'll talk about it in a sec. elise is back with us at the table. first of all, the plan thing. the plan thing always polls well particularly with undecided voters. if you ask them what they want, they want a plan. romney has a plan. he's been talking act what he's going to do. he's loose on details. he's been talking commitments. barack obama has a four-year record and talking about his

commitments. keeping the affordable care act is a big thing. you can't say there's nothing to it. either there's a huge imposition on the american populous or it's not. it's not big deal you are going to keep this piece of legislation. this whole he doesn't have a plan thing is overstated. part of the weirdness of this campaign is this forcing mechanism that is going to happen the day after the election. it's bizarre. it's going to happen in the lame duck session. it's also impossible in some ways to be too specific about what you are going to do in those negotiations. it is a negotiation. what do we think the mandate is coming out of this if barack obama is reelected. the first thing he's got to do is deal with this emergency. what does it look like? >> we see he was detailed back when this fiscal crisis, not the crisis on the balance sheet, the

pretty cal crisis has been rehearsed three times. >> yes, thank you. >> we saw with, you know, the bowles-simpson, the president put out the six-page fact sheet, i'm going to toughen the advisory board, i'm going to do this to taxes. he said what he would like to do and he knows what the american people, three out of four want. they want higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires, not for themselves but for social security. they don't want social security or medicare and medicaid to be touched. i don't know where the election is going to go. it's clear what the american people want and it's clear what democrats believe on the issue. this is not magic. >> i think andrew sullivan is the only person who thinks the republicans are going to be more open to a deal if president obama is reelected. look, i think the question that the president has not actually asked the public or asked mitt romney that really is the question is when we are in a

recovery like this, we have two options. we can immediately choose to pay back the chinese and wall street, neither of whom are popular right now or we can choose to invest in the middle class. right? when you put it that way, there's no question. it's not a partisan issue, right? people believe we have to invest in the middle class rather than pay off the people we owe money to. it is also what history shows is incredibly important. the thing people shouldn't forget as we move into this austerity debate. to me, we need to talk jobs, not austerity. every single republican president drove up the deficit. people forget that. every single republican president has driven up the deficit and democratic presidents have to grapple with that. president obama needs to call them on their bluff. i don't think they are going to drive the country off the cliff. >> here is the interview. people should go over the

interview. i thought it was interesting. it was off the record. it's not like he said oh, my god, i can't believe he said that. he's more detailed and freer than on the stuff. this is him on using the simpson-bowles debt. i think we can get what is e give lent to the grand bargain that essentially i've been offering to the republicans for a very long time. $4 trillion deficit reduction and more ton out year. that is being very clear, assigning a number. do you see the republicans taking that deal if obama is reelected in that period of time? >> of course, president obama's budget he proposed didn't get to $4 trillion in cuts. it would be good to see the president get to that. if he did that, then there would be something to negotiate back and forth with. >> with this house, it's hard to

see what is gained by putting anything in writing. more on the fiscal cliff, immigration reform and the climate change after this. oh, she only uses tide vivid detergent plus boost for her whites. now, up until a week ago she used chlorine bleach. yeah, because before it was salt, lemon, milk. well actually... that part's true. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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hello from new york. i'm chris hayes. elise from the friends democracy super pac. >> heather mcgee and rick of the new yorker magazine. we are talking about the president's second term agenda. the plan that was put out by the campaign. the fact that this strangeness of our political calendar. it begins before his first term ends. the forcing mechanism of the fiscal cliff, the expiration of the bush tax cuts, the sequestration cuts are going to happen at the end of the year.

in that lame duck session, they are going to negotiate a way out of it. the president made news saying sequestration will not happen. i thought it was giving away leverage. if you think, you know, that is your leverage to say, well, if you don't want the deal, we are going to drive over the cliff. >> you are so frustrated by this. >> i am. we thought this is never going to happen. it's a hatchet. this is what happens. once in the political ecosphere, something is dropped in. even if it's from planet mars, the idea of chopping off our budget, one-half defense, one-half not. whatever. it becomes like part of the ecosystem in a strange way. the president was saying of course it's not going to happen. no one thought it would happen. you know, we would force ourselves to come wac to the table. it's strange to think it's what

our elected officials have to do. >> this is what i want. if you want to summarize the budget control act, basically republicans want a scale of spending cuts. half of it's defense. there's no cuts really to health care. a little to medicare. that's it. the content of the cut preserve democratic priorities. the scale is where hens want, by and large. >> there are no tax increases. that was the thing that was the do or die thing to republicans and always will be forever and ever and ever. >> right. those are things republicans want. they conceded on the content of the the cuts. >> they did start saying the day after -- >> that we should not make the cuts. >> sure. i just want to say, my point is, i think we are optimistic. they have an incentive to compromise. if democrat say look, we are

stuff with this framework. these are the spending cuts we want. it's hard to see how republicans, you know, alter that dynamic if they don't control the senate. >> republicans control that by putting revenue on the table. that's the thing that's been from the beginning. we have the iconic moment from the republican primary. would you take a 10-1 deal? would you take $10 spending cut and not a single person raised his hand including nominee mitt romney. that is the issue to me. rick, do you think there will be a difference in behavior in the republican house if they are coming off a victory of barack obama? >> i don't think there should be. if incentive they have in their own careers. they are from republican districts of -- republicans are from republican districts. it's republicans they have to please. they have shown themselves far more willing to strap a suicide

vest not on to themselves, but on to the country, then say it's your responsibility to keep this thing from blowing up. we have no responsibility. we have no responsibility. as part of the mythology that somehow the president is the one who calls all the shots and is always in charge. it's fed in these presidential campaigns. presidential candidates put out visions and realize automatically. it's a machine for disappointment. >> i think that's what democracy is called. democracy -- >> i think it's important for folks to remember, too. i have no idea how this plays into the incentives. heather is right, we have been through this before. the last time we couldn't get a debt deal is when congressional favoribility hit an all time historic low. people are sick of this. they are sick of playing russian roulette with the economy. >> you have a congress that's got a public opinion rating in

the single digits. 97% of them are going to be -- >> that's the point. there's a huge distinction between their collective -- >> we can't vote against congress. you can vote against one-hundredths of a three fifths. >> the stacking of what he invisioned for a second term. you have to do the fiscal stuff first. it's on the calendar. the second thing is immigration reform. since this is off the record, i'll be very blunt, should i win a second term, the reason is because of the republican nominee and republican party failed the latino community. this is a new phenomenon. george bush acknowledged it. they will have a deep interest in getting that done. the political case, oh, if barack obama is reelected, absolutely not. we are all in agreement. it's the exact same dynamics.

i think there's a persuasive case. as a republican, i'm wondering if you think the same thing? >> george w. bush tried to propose bipartisan immigration reform. it was sunk. >> that is just not tree to say it was both parties. labor always opposed these, did the tough thing, bit down, went to their members, members that are suspicious of this and sold them that bill. this is mccain/kennedy. in 2008, when the candidates were running, john mccain took his name off the bill. it's not true it was killed by both parties. >> let's talk about what barack obama has done. he hasn't proposed a plan. one thing that comes out of the book is president obama doesn't enjoy the policy negotiations with congress. itis not his thing. >> why wuld you enjoy that? you would have to be a masochist

to enjoy that. >> it's how you pass it. bill clinton did enjoy it. maybe he was a masochist. >> he was impeached. >> exactly. that's what he got for it. >> you have to get into the nitty gritty and have those policies. >> let me ask you about this. romney, we all saw him get up there and take the wood to rick perry in the primaries on immigration. you want to spend $100,000 of taxpayer money on these illegals that are coming into the country? it's what you want to do? the question is, why did he do that? the answer is clear. the incentives are to use that language, beat up and get to the right of people. if those are the incentives, why are they going to be any different? when are they going to change? >> it' a challenging issue. immigration reform has been hard. how does it get done? it gets done when people of different persuasions get

together saying i will give on this if you give on that. that process stuff is what the president is unwilling to do. >> the affordable care act. >> that was a partisan bill that passed. you can blame republicans for not voting. the point is, that was not a bipartisan compromise. >> wants to get people together. you might disagree. that's his history and temperment. he tries to bring people together and he's willing to make compromises. >> if we were going to elect mitt romney with a congress that was 87% democrat in both houses that would be one thing. i would be curious to see how he would conduct himself. we are not elected him into that. we are electing him with a house republican caucus devoted to a right wing division of the country. that's the right. they believe in what they believe in. that's the congress we are going to have.

i don't see how that is going to change the behavior of the republican party institutionally. >> i think it gets done when it's a matter of survival. more of the guys in the house need the latino vote to get reelected. it's the opposite of what we are seeing on climate change. as a matter of survival, the gop needs oil money. the disinnocence there is going to last for generations more. the dynamics are going to change more quickly in latino districts and republican districts. a deep dive into the career of the republican lawyer behind the voter fraud. that's next. [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows.

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all right. is this week, president obama was asked about one of the crucial issues of election

season that didn't surface during any debates. it took jay leno to directly take on theish shy of voter suppression. >> look at this billboard here. look at the billboard. show it. voters will be asked, but not required. that's a billboard i think in colorado. you know, they make it look like you have to have this. but if you read the fine print, you don't really have to. >> it's a problem. >> it's a little scary. >> the justice department handles these cases, so i can't weigh in on a particular state. here is one thing i know, throughout our history, our country has always been stronger when everybody had a voice. it took a long time to make sure the franchise expanded to everybody. we should be thinking of ways to make it easier for people to vote, not make it harder for folks to vote. [ applause ] >> that's why, you know, that's

why the early voting is terrific. >> this network specifically talked about it. affects latino voters. john lewis reminded people that legal efforts to block the path of legitimate voters isn't new. >> not too long ago, people stood in unmovable lines. they had to pass a literacy test, pay tax, on occasion a man was asked to count. on another occasion one was asked to count the jelly beans in a jar just to keep them from casting a ballot. today, it is unbelievable the republican officials are trying to stop some people from voting.

>> republicans who support voter id laws claim they are needed insisting the threat of election fraud is compelling. an nyu school of law says they are more likely to be struck by ligening than voter fraud. a new piece in the new yorker magazine. a fantastic piece focusing on a republican lawyer whom she says has stoked fear about imposters at the polls. we'll talk about the impact on voter suppression in a moment. if the assault characterize the election story, the less told stories of a second act where they struck back with a vengeance winning a series of victories. in pennsylvania, and ohio, the court of appeals reinstated early voting. voter id laws were taken off the table in wisconsin setting up an election day that is less restrictive and bringing us to the third and final act, when

people actually cast their ballots. if the election is as close as it looks like it will be, the same conservative agitators who led the effort to suppress the vote will be at the courthouse the morning after the election in the post vote battle. joining us is bertha lewis, chief organizer of a.c.o.r.n. my colleague who's done the best coverage and jane mayer. it's great to have you all here. >> great to be with you. >> this is a complicated story. there are a lot of moving parts and bits of information and different things happening. at another level, it's a very simple story. it's one group of people trying to get another group of people not to vote. before we dive into the magazine and before we talk about what it looks like to be the former head of a.c.o.r.n. watching this unfold, could they go and get

away with going after democrats? i want to start with you about where we are right now. i think it's important we don't lose sight of the fact that in some ways, this story is a hopeful story in so far as the mobilization has been impressive. >> it's hopefully a hopeful story. the jury is out. you said it right in your introduction. 2011 is the year republicans passed the restriction to vote. one of the changes in the last 50 years occurred in one year alone. 2012 is when the courts fought back and blocked all of the laws. a lot of laws aren't on the books now. the question is, how will they be enforced on election day. in pennsylvania, will people be wrongly told they need id. in florida, will people not be on the voting rolls? all sorts of swing states still have problematic laws on the books. virginia has voter id laws on

the books. so, there's the possibility of a significant amount of confusion. i'm hoping there's been so much coverage of this issue people know what the laws are in their states. we have court decisions three weeks before the election. people are going to be rightly confused on what the story is on election day. >> i have been hearing from people who are out there canvassing there is a lot of confusion. people are uncertain right now about what they need to bring to the polls or whether they will be challenged in some way. confusion is a tactic to some extent. i'm less optimistic about what happened in the courts than maybe some people might be because while the courts have suspended a number of the rules, it's temporary. they have said basically, this isn't going to work for this election. the states haven't had enough time to implement it. they will be able to be implemented after this election. moving forward towards the next

election, i think we are talking about some of the laws going into effect and see a major provision of the voting rights challenged. >> i have to correct something ari said. this goes to bertha sitting next to me, who i love, the courts did not fight back. >> that's right. >> we had people on the ground in pennsylvania identifying plaintiffs denied their right to vote and putting them out to win the public opinion. that's what we are missing since we have no a.c.o.r.n. >> and you also have folks pointing out the issue. i mean, from the center to the events -- look, folks have to fight. here is the good thing. here is the good move. you know, now that we know that these guys really are just liars and will do whatever it takes to steal an election or to pretend as though they are protecting

democracy, it actually has energized, at least my folks. folks i talk to -- those older people, young people, poor people, black people, brown people, people of color, we are out. we are on it. >> right. >> you know what? we said oh, really? is that how you are going to roll? here's what's going to happen. we are rolling on the polls. >> there's a project in florida that al sharpton was involved. in make lemonade out of lemons. people said it's possible mr. might have been a lack of enthusiasm. it's tough economic times. part of seeing someone come at you that way saying no, no, no, it's been an incredibly energizing force. i want to talk about the prehistory of this. also, the way the preverse way in which creating uncertainty

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choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? we are talking about voter suppression. i want to talk to you about this profile you wrote. before that, i want to make a programming note about this issue. one of the things we try to do on this show is bring people together from diverse perspectives and try to have conversations and conflict and root through issues. there are a few issues where i can't find anyone in good faith. i'm very serious. voter fraud and climate are two things where the climate is getting warmer. voter fraud doesn't exist in any sort of systemic way. it's not a big issue and we don't have anyone at the table to talk about that. we are all around here in tune on the issue. this is one of those issues

where i cannot, in good faith, who i think is pursuing good faith pointing to an impeer cal grounding for this. jane, this comes across on your piece. tell me what the role is in creating in voter suppression. >> he may be the leading alarmist in voter fraud where you pretend to be someone else at the polls. he's been sounding this alarm since the 1990s. so, i read his book. he's got a book out. it would make you think american elections are like some banana republic and they are going to be stolen. so i read it and went to talk to him. it was interesting. he gives a number of examples and i looked at them more closely. when i drilled down to see whether it was in good faith or true, i found holes in his argument. they fall apart. the truth is, there isn't that

kind of voter fraud in this country. you know, the most recent study showed since 2000, there have been seven cases of voter fraud, in person voter fraud, the kind that is cured with an id. seven since 2000. there are more cases of violations of migratory bird stash than election laws. it is -- it's concocted, basically. so, it is a very useful concoction, i think. >> it's concocted and promoted by him specifically. the two of them have really succeeded. what i find so frustrating is they have pulled off this hustle on their own base. you talk to grass roots conservatives and they are convinced this is happening all the time, right? they are absolutely convinced. who is that base? >> they are working with -- they have, you know, he set the heritage foundation a conservative think tank.

he writes and he's on fox news a lot. they have helped advise this organization that looks grass roots that comes out of texas. it looks like it's a spontaneous movement. it's directed by these people who are professional operatives, basically. conservative operatives who know what they are doing. >> another thing i liked was he was this fringe figure. >> yes. >> largely in the republican party for many, many years. now, he's the spokesman for the republican party on voting issues. i think it shows the evolution of the republican party or the deevolution on this issue. in 2006, the voting rights act was overwhelmingly reauthorized by congress including all republicans. now you have, instead, the core issue of the republican party is restricting the party to vote. voter suppression is the new normal inside the republican party. they are not going to drop these ef forfeits after 2012. this is their only response to

demographic change, to stir up fears of voter fraud and use them to try to make it harder for the growing electorate, young people, african-americans and his spannics. >> you are right. this is about demographics. the base swallows a whole. who is the base. it is a base that is -- people of color are going to be the new majority in this country. then you have folks out there that see this as an absolute threat. my former organization, a.c.o.r.n., we organized poor people, people of color, brown people, young people, people in the projects, people that folks said they don't come out to vote, they never will. we moved people to vote based on issues like in florida, we moved folks. over 1 million people through the polls to vote to raise that state's minimum wage because the

federal government hadn't done it. alec, an american legislative exchange who does the templates for all the bills, this other guy is in league with them. this is a strategy to combat the changing demographics and power shift of this country. >> every now and then, someone speaks the truth about it from the conservative side. they portray themselves as nonpartisan and working for fair elections. in truth, the founder of a.l.e.c., the founder of the heritage foundation set out and said we don't want everybody to vote. >> right. >> it's not good for certain points of view to have everybody enfranchised. i think we heard it again in pennsylvania with mike. >> yeah. when he said voter id. >> it will get romney elected. it's something that helps one party more than another party. generally, they don't tell it

like that. it's what people say. >> one thing that has been fascinating this year, from a broad perspective, a reminder there's a historical debate between the right and the left about democracy. this is the roots of the right wing, of course, they are going back to burke and his counter revolutionary look as revolutions being ghastly and mob rule. we were talking about the electoral college. they have more support on the right than the left. the national popular vote is past blue states. there's an ideological difference about democracy as the best means of ruling of people. ilyse, you have been traveling around the country. i want to hear what you have to say. and one wedding, 2 kids, 43 bottles of olay total effects many birthdays later, still looks amazing. thanks to the trusted performance of olay.

you have been traveling around in a lot of different races. you want to say something? >> yeah, i did. what i have been seeing all over the country is two-fold.

one, extremely educated volunteers, right? dmv employees very confused. volunteers better equipped than i have seen to get people what they need state by state. the other point i want to make goes to what you were saying about the fight about democracy. i think this is not republican/democrat. i think this is 1%, 99%. this is why we saw the romney fund-raiser folks saying my nail lady isn't educated enough to vote, right? so one of the things i think is interesting and it goes to the a.l.e.c. stuff, voter suppression could be the achilles heel on the narratives. we saw corporations fleeing alex because they didn't want to be on the wrong side of the democracy. we did not see that. they pushed legislation on climate change to gun rights. one of the things we have seen is there's a vulnerability around this issue that we need to learn the leverage across the

board for other progressive issues. >> i think you are right. one of the reasons that i felt my new organization called the blackinstitute.org. one is because of the demographics. if we are going to be a new minority, people of color, somebody better pay attention and develop policies for us and about us. two, that black folks, people of color are not in an economic fairness conversation, which is pitting 1% against the 99% and who rules and who doesn't. climate change. if you are not talking about people of color being part of that discussion, the privatization of education, again, this is, you know, from income inequality to predatory. finally, immigration. black faces are not and the

immigration debate. that is the one thing that is going to occur, no matter who wins this election. she's right. you have to look at this as not a democrat/republican thing or a right/left thing. >> there is -- let me say, there is a left/right thing. >> i'm on the left. i admit. i'm out. >> in 2009, a poll was done to find 52% of gop voters think a.c.o.r.n. stole the presidential election for barack obama. >> yep. >> what the myth making that happened through the fund has been very effective. this is what people hear. you know, right now, here is the grand irony. there is an amazing incident of a republican firm, tell me about this firm, ari. you have been covering it. >> there's a firm, allied consulting run by nathan spruel.

voter registration fraud. he was the main person funded by the rnc to do voter registration work. all these fraudulent forms turned up in florida and colorado. they were registering dead people the exact thing they claimed a.c.o.r.n. was doing. they were changing forms from democratic to republican. they were registering tons of people at the same addresses. republican operatives were doing the things they accused a.c.o.r.n. of doing. it's an incredible moment of hypocrisy on the right. >> there are kinds of election fraud. there is registration fraud. there's absentee ballot fraud. people throw out whole boxes of them sometimes. i think what was striking to me was there is not the kind of fraud that gets cured with an id. >> exactly. >> the whole movement on the republican side is to push through laws that john lewis said to me, a congressman, it's

a cure for a disease that does not exist. in fairness, we have to say there is a very sloppy administration of american elections and it's a real vol neribility for both parties. it's a shameful thing. this greatest democracy in the world administered so sloppy. >> in the famous words of chris hayes, it is profane. here's what's the problem with it. again, leading a.c.o.r.n., you know, we used to put up a sign saying no good deed goes untarnished. we, at one point at our peak, we accounted for 25% of all voter registration in this country. 25%. so, just that number alone put a big target on our backs. >> right. >> we had a quality control in

which we never threw out a card. we flagged and tagged every suspicious card. we also went to the board of elections or woefully underfunded, by the way, and said john doe was a canvasser. here is his name, address, phone number. these are the cards. we did the job for them. so, therefore, because of the people that we were moving, we didn't just register folks, we moved them to the poll. >> i want to raise the issue here. i think one of the things that gets lost in this, it's been productive for the people raising the spectrum of voter fraud. there's a difference between errors and fraud. i want to talk about that. there were errors in things a.c.o.r.n. did. i want you to talk about that right after this break. >> okay. so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep!

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these stories that happened that you were embroiled in the a.c.o.r.n. scandal. i want you to talk about, you know, the way they came after you was they pulled out some registration that had been filled out by someone that a.c.o.r.n. employed that was mickey mouse or some such ridiculousness. when you hear about the rampant voter fraud, the registration of mickey mouse and someone registered who was dead. give your response. why should i believe you were not part of it? >> first of all, mickey mouse never went to vote. number two, we handed to the board of electionings, we said john doe registered mickey mouse, this looks suspicious. again, reflagged and tagged every one unlike mr. spruel who

had to look and say these cards are suspicious, unlike him, it is illegal to throw out any card. so we flagged and tagged. they did not. we don't -- does it make sense for an organization that organizes low and moderate income folks and people of color to fraudulently register someone who we can't get to the polls? >> right. right. this point is so key. you have the duty to pass along every registration card because you don't want the organization to be the one throwing out the cards. it's a huge problem. you can't have someone go, i meet you outside the 7 1u. it's fraud that is far worse

than what -- zoe row stories about gop voters. viewers of fox news are coming away with the perception it's done by democrats. they have no conception their side is doing the very things they are accusing democrats and progressives of doing. >> as we head toward election day, the obama campaign is pushing early voting because they give you seven bites of the apples. if you go ten days before the election and your name is on the list, you have nine days to get it sorted out and vote. if you show up at 5:00 p.m. on tuesday and your name is on the list, you have to cast a ballot. you made the provision before. the administration of elections is pretty bonkers.

we all saw this in 2000. there's a bill passed called the help america vote act. they were appointed to the head of the commission. implementing the law. this is what he had to say about his time doing that. >> we had zero dollars for research. you are one of the ac. what i wanted was enough money and we suspected that $10 million would do it. i hung in there until after the election. after the election, i informed the white house i was leaving. i was 16-year-old sons and i would rather spend time with them than to work in washington with a congress and a white house that is not really committed to this task which i thought was fundamental to our democracy. >> a republican white house at the time. you -- what do you hear from your sources about how they view what's going to happen on

election day? >> it's disconcerning. basically, what they are saying is that they think there's a good possibility that we'll be worse than 2000. worse than florida. john said there might be three or four states like florida. if we're lucky, three or four. there may be more than that. if this election is really close, you get into the margin of litigation, which means all the lawyers come out and they are going to be fighting. you know, it's a worry because the country is divided politically and the elections are administered poorly. there's a lot of area for litigation and confusion. it undermines the legitimacy of the outcome. the story, the seed they have been planting, they can harvest the food. it's been about fraud and sneaking the vote and how people are not qualified or casting

their vote and then you plant the seed to then, afterwards, go after striking. bertha lewis, former ceo of a.c.o.r.n. it was a great organization. ari, my colleague at the nation magazine and jane mayer from the new yorker magazine. thank you for joining me. copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac

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in just a moment what we should know for the news week ahead, but first a quick update. mike is the priest who came out on our show as a nonbeliever. he's been working pastor at a nondenominational church in houston, but now he started a new organization along with several other atheists called houston oasis to provide support and fellowship to people who font want to be part of

organized religion. and i'm planning to appear at m.i.t. wednesday to talk about my book. for details, go to facebook.com/up with chris. so what should you know for the week? well, in a nation whereby partisan consensus tells us we're equally accountable to justice but that the nation will suffer if we apply justice to the deeds of those who ran the country, should you know that other tds actually hold former heads of state criminally accountable. at least former premiere berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison. and he is still in court for charges he paid for sex with a minor and tried to cover it p. as you watch sandy make its way to the eastern seaboard, large corporate entities who make their money by assessing and quantifying risks are freaked out by the effects of climate change. a new report from a top

reinsurer concludes that climate driven changes are already evident over the last few decades for severe thunderstorms, heavy precipitation and flash flooding, hurricane activity and for heat wave, drought and wildfire dynamics in parts of north america. should you know that this is just the beginning and that if republicans really believed in the market and the information discovery role of markets, they would be listening to the world's insurance companies rather than fossil fuel funded cranks. and finally, even good economic news can have undesirable consequences. this week chrysler will add 1100 workers in detroit. the plant hassed a workers on overtime for months, is now adding a third crew so they can be operational for more hours in the day. it's hard to imagine these new jobs without chrysler and chrysler without the auto rescue. but because the new vehicles, these workers will be making our suvs, so while the comeback is good in the short term, it's

only good on for all of us in the long time if the industry goes through a revolution that dramatically increases the efficiency and reduces the emissions of the cars it produces. want to find out what my guests think you should know for the coming week -- >> i think one of the things that a we've been discussing has been there's more drips out of the benghazi situation. there was a cia annex he is that asked for military intervention and were denied three times. unclear whether it was the pentagon, the president. who those. but i think we'll see more drips from that next week and that will continue to hit the headlines. >> we've covered benghazi quite a bit and i'm at the point where i thought i knew i then turned out not to know so have been taking things very cautiously because there was a lot of rushing, oh, it was about the movie, it wasn't about the movie, and every time we at the time wrong footed, there's been a lot of pouncing on everything. so my approach has been a wait and see attitude because each

new discreet piece of information misleads as much as it revealses. >> and if you can sick of elections, there is an opportunity within reach in new york state to actually get the senate that can pass public funding and you should know that if it can happen in new york, it can happen anywhere. >> and andrew cuomo is on the fence or he supports it? >> he says he support it is. if there's a political path forward, he'll take it. which is incredibly important if you live in new york, or if you know anyone in new york, fwheed a democratic senate. >> in in era of real hyper partisanship, we know that citizens are actually united on these issues. it's actually amazing. we had a poll in the field and did a report, eight out of ten doesn't go under 72% for republicans, liberals, democrats, hates corporate money in politics. >> you should know more than anytime in this election cycle, maybe more than anytime ever, the possibility of a wrong

winter election where one candidate gets more human votes and the other candidate gets more electoral votes is more alive than ever. you 1450 know both sides oxes get gored. in 2000, it was the testimonies who got screwed. this time it could be the republicans. you should know the recount problem is not a president obama because that would happen only once in 3,000 years and there's a solution, go to national popular vote.com and find out what it is. >> i want to thank my guests today. thank you all and thank you for joining us. we'll be back next weekend saturday and sunday at 8:00 eastern. our special pre-election coverage. if you're in the area, you can catch us live outside right in front of 30 rock. come out to see us. coming up next, melissa harris perry. the strategy the obama campaign is using to seal the deal. it all comes down to one word. whether it work. that's melissa harris perry coming up next.

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